I have a love of science and as a result have been testing multiple methods of leaf pullings on Dionaea for some time now, this is a log of my testing method, results and conclusions.
Introduction:
I'm a student so cutting costs is one of my top priorities when taking cuttings, as a result all of my experiment was preformed using items that can be found in the common household(excluding a full spectrum CFL and a VFT:-P) as a result no chemical additives were used eg. Rooting hormones, anti-fungal powders .etc.
All experiments were preformed over a three month period
During said period progress was recorded at 1 month intervals
Each factor/method was preformed with three leaves
Once the traps turned fully black (in all methods) they were removed to prevent fungal growth
Taking pullings:
Pullings were taken early February from a plant which was bought fresh fresh out of dormancy
Pullings were taken by un-potting the VFT and "pulling" downwards on the leaves so a section of the rhizome came away each time
All pullings were taken from the same two plants
All chosen leaves were of the same size and health
Procedure:
Method 1: Pullings placed on Peat Moss
The leaf Pullings were placed in dents on the surface of a pot of boiled peat moss(dent used to make the most possible surface area of the underside of the leaves be in contact with the peat moss, boiled in an attempt to kill off fungus spores and bacteria) The pots were placed in a tray of Rainwater approximately 30cm away from a CFL Each pot was covered in cling film
Method 2: Pullings placed in Long fibre Sphagnum (LFS)
The leaf Pullings were placed in on the surface of the boiled LFS with as much of the underside of the leaves in contact with the LFS as possible The pots were placed in a tray of Rainwater approximately 30cm away from a CFL Each pot was covered in cling film
Method 3: Pullings placed submerged in Rainwater
The leaf pullings were placed in glasses of boiled(then cooled) rainwater (boiled in this case in an attempt to kill bacteria and algal spores) The glasses were placed approximately 30cm away from a CFL Each glass was covered with cling film
Results:
Method 1: Pullings placed on Peat Moss
This method resulted in the shortest amount of time before fungal growth was seen(at the 1 month interval)
No successful strikes were seen before all pots were consumed by fungus(possibly due to cling film causing stagnant air which sped up spore germination)
Method abandoned at 2 month mark when all leaves were noted to be dead
Not a method I've had "lots" of success with in the past as well
Method 2: Pullings placed in Long fibre Sphagnum (LFS)
Method shows promise as 2/3 had strikes
Fungal growth occurred only after 2 month mark
Between month 2 and 3 two leaves were killed by fungus(one with a strike and one without)
By the end of month 3 the remaining leaf had formed a plantlet
Method 3: Pullings placed submerged in Rainwater
By far most successful
No maintenance required (ie. no topping up water) apart from removing dead traps
%100 strike rate
No fungus seen(due to submersion)
Small amount of algae seen during month 1 but it was left alone
Conclusion:
After preforming all three variations of leaf pulling I found the most successful to be the technique of placing pullings in rainwater. The LFS strike that did survive had grown larger then all of the plantlets from the Submerged method, but a conclusion on size of plantlet can not be drawn as this could be an isolated case.
From my own opinion the submersion method is also the easiest, no potting or watering, just stick it in a glass of boiled and cooled rainwater(not to mention it's the cheapest)
Method of acclimatising Submerged plants to emmersed(yes it's a real word) state
After plantlet has reached approx 1cm in diameter remove it from the glass and place it on LFS or peat (very wet) in a pot with cling film over the top
Over the course of a 2-3 weeks pop holes in the cling film
At the end of the three weeks you have air-hardy little plantlets
After Notes:
Two weeks on from the end of the experiment all 4 of the successful strikes have formed plantlets with small traps, the ones from the submersion technique seemed to take a week off of growing to acclimatise. I would like to see how long one on the plantlets could be left in water before being acclimatised as growth was much faster pre acclimatisation, buts that's a whole other experiment for a different time.
I hope my long rambling report can help someone in some way eventually.
- Niall FM

Hi There,
a few years ago the owner of Joel's Carnivorous Plants led me to try out nutrients on some of my Dionaea Muscipula specimens. After trying out what he recommended to me, I decided to try other products.
I ran across something called KLN, which contains IBA. I created a mixture of this and other nutrients(not really homogenous at all), and tested it out on some plants. After some weeks, I discovered how we can make the roots of Dionaea branch. I later shared this information with Joel Garner, and he too conducted the experiment himself.
The vertical roots of Dionaea put us at a disadvantage because they are more prone to dry out since they use only a minimal amount of medium to extract water from. If they were to branch out a little bit more, they would use more water and stay hydrated longer, like most trees. Using what I've been calling the BMC Method, I believe that this can help plants stay more hydrated.
In the pictures(courtesy of Joel Garner), you will notice that the tips of the roots start to callous and branch out a bit.
I will be conducting more experiments with the KLN on other CP's soon.
I just thought that I should write this because I know a couple other people are aware of this experiment, so this will let people know who discovered this.

Hi all
So I am the owner of http://www.youtube.com/fnglazz
I started the channel itself a few years ago, but a couple of years ago, I started uploading carnivorous plant videos that I have filmed. The idea was to share with the world why exactly I find these plants so damn cool.
It has grown and grown and now has over 230 subscribers and over a million lifetime views. The reason why I am posting this here though is because I am hoping that any of you who have carnivorous plant videos will share them so I can put them on my channel. In return, you will obviously get credit and a link in the description of your choosing as a way to increase traffic to which ever site you choose.
So if any of you have videos you would like to share, please do.
Only two conditions:
1. The video is of reasonable quality
2. Either mute or no background music (normal background sound is fine though)
I started my fascination with these plants when I was about 8 years old.
Now I want to show the world why we CP enthusiasts find these plants to be so damned cool.
I hope I can have your help in doing so.